From “he won’t be missed” to “Mendoza was irrelevant,” Mets fans had a lot to say about their manager, Carlos Mendoza, being fired.
The 46-year-old was let go Friday morning after leading the Mets to the NL East’s worst record at 34-47 this season.
The move by Mets owner Steve Cohen has sparked an online debate over whether Mendoza was truly the reason for the Mets’ failure or is just being used as a scapegoat.
“I don’t understand firing Mendoza,” one fan said on X. “Was he telling [Juan] Soto not to hit the ball? Was he on the field committing 6 errors in a single game?”
There’s no doubt Mendoza has been dealt a poor hand this season. He’s had to deal with a two-month Francisco Lindor injury, poor pitching and errors galore.
It wasn’t him who put the roughly $320-plus million team together; that was president of baseball operations David Stearns.
“The ownership of Steve Cohen and wife should be fired and the nerd GM who got rid of fan favorites for a bunch of bums,” another fan said. “It started with Lindor signing. He wasn’t leading or winning anything, ever!”
“Stearns should be fired not Mendoza,” someone else chimed in on X.
Stearn played a significant role in trading away or letting go of Pete Alonso, Brandon Nimmo, Jeff McNeil, and Edwin Díaz.
Yet the Mets still had the second-most expensive roster in MLB over the past two seasons, according to Spotrac, and are 11 games under .500 in that time.
“Stop with the Mendoza didn’t deserve this crap. The team is lifeless. The team last year was lifeless. The manager is allowed to suck even if he was dealt a s–t hand,” a fan wrote on X. “Good managers know how to change it to a good hand. Not blaming Mendoza more than Stearns but they are both trash.”
“About time!! Finally some accountability from this organization!” another X user wrote.
It appears the only thing Mets fans agree on is that Mendoza was “a good baseball man” and “carried himself with such professionalism” regardless of the situation.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
